Strawberry Slap-Fights
by ThreadsToFeathers
Summary: Atsuki's day was filled with face-palming moments... Actually, Kisaragi did this to him often. To the point where he expected it with each passing day, actually. He has a job to do, so... Why do scenes like these keep happening to him? A little thing I came up with when I had time off.


The Sweet Ring. Redwood tables dot the warm establishment, the pink and blue tile glistening from a recent mop down. Many of these tables are filled with consumers, a decorative and delightfully delicious looking cake or some other pastry being devoured by each.

A blue haired girl has her mouth closed over a fork, humming in wonder and delight of the taste of her own cake. A silvernette sits across from her, a strawberryless strawberry tart with a bite taken out of it resting as he listens to her joy filled comments.

"I wouldn't expect cake this good at my B-day party," the peppy girl exclaims between bites, a big and goofy grin adorning her face. "I can't believe you did all of this for me... As they say, 'give and I shall recieve'."

A man around fourty years old with hair the color of thirsty summer grass approaches their table, his steps lightly tapping against the tile. He waves at them, a smile of his own lighting up his dark blue eyes.

"Hey, Mika! What's going on? Tell me some proverbs!" She turns to his voice, smiling at Sweet Ring's owner, before frowning at his comment. Her shoulders slouch dejectedly.

"... Not funny..." He laughs heartily and apologizes for teasing her. His smile twitches downwards for a second, noticing that she's still frowning, but this time in a more... depressing way. Like she just remembered something recent that she wished she hadn't, and was disappointed from the memory.

"So, you didn't get to meet your teacher after all?" She flinched. It was spot on.

Arthur Mays was that teacher. It's just a day after he had attempted to take his own life to "save his memories from fading away". Despite fainting before he could kill himself on the roof of Seagull, he still fell, and was brought to the hospital. The image of such a kind and beautiful man trying to end himself, crying out in desperation for everyone to leave him be... It was both a shocking and heartbreaking sight. It was a good think Atsuki erased his Silent, Nitika, before it got out of hand*.

"Yeah, he was sleeping..." She thinks about her teacher, worried over the poor soul...

"Well, he was probably very exhausted*," Kenichi says, a knowing look in his eye. "When he recovers, my cooking will be even better!" His grin broadens more, and Mika perks up immediatly. Her grin almost blinds the entire store with her sheer grateful happiness, worry... well, almost erased.

"Thanks, Kenichi!" She laughs to herself, finding it rediculous that she was worried about him still sleeping when she and Atsuki visited him. Especially when there was something else about that situation a little more upsetting...

"Well, Mika, Saijo, please enjoy your meal." He leaves, and the two turn to each other, the mood immediatly switching to a darker tone once again. Mika's face is laced with concern, her brows drawing together.

"Hey, why would Mr. Mays do something like that?" She fidgets in her seat, even more concerned than before. "You probably don't know, but he seemed fine before. He suddenly stopped coming. Ms. Honoka said he was finishing more art work, but..." She sighs, closing her eyes.

"Do you really think that's all that happened," she asks the silverette, knowing that there's more to it, but not knowing what, "because he's a hermit? If that's it, some fresh air would help him, right? Don't you think something's wrong?" She waits for an answer. He just hums, not saying yes or no, but Mika takes it as a yes.

"Right? Must be a reason... And he was yelling those strange words..." She shakes her head, sapphire eyes gleaming in apology. "Sorry, the conversation took a dark turn." She suddenly smiles at him, shocking him a little at the sudden change in mood once again. His mouth unnoticeably turns upward, grateful for the change in the atmosphere.

"The cake's gonna go bad." They look down at their treats, and Atsuki gets an idea in his head. He smirks suddenly. Evilly. Mika shrinks a little at the sight.

"Don't worry about it," he says, slightly out of character. A challenge and amusement at his thoughts glint in his eyes as he reaches for her dessert. She gasps and shields her cake with her arms, laughing despite her precious strawberries being in grave danger.

"Hey! Get your hands off the strawberry shortcake! It's M-I-N-E," she growls playfully. The telepath's smirk only broadens, trying to reach for it again while she slaps his pale, thieving hands away. Even when his hands burn red with agitation-this girl slaps _hard-_he still kept going at it, determined to get some spoils...

They laughed, enjoying each other's company when a sudden ringing interrupts the two, shocking Mika backwards and making Saijo jump slightly and frown a little. _'Oh, only got one strawberry...' _Not a very mighty amount of spoils...

"Sorry," Mika apologises with wide eyes, not expecting the sudden call. She lifts it to her ear. Her brows furrow and her eyes widen further, a panicked look settling in as the voice on the other side continues to speak uninterrupted. She jumps up from the table. "Sorry! Razzly just asked me to help, I have to go! Go ahead and eat the rest of the cakes! See you later," she finalizes before running off to her new task. She bolts away, Kenichi coming forward again when he sees her leave.

"Wow, Mika's always so busy, huh?" He laughs heartily, his daughter figure and possible soon-to-be-daughter-in-law's behavior so amusing in its liveliness. He pats Saijo on the back. "Relax for a while, Saijo." He leaves, just in time for Atsuki's own phone to ring. He opens it up, his poker face settling in once again at the sight of Natsuki's terrified one. Her bright, golden eyes are almost brown in sheer concern, her hands clasped together and held above her heart.

"Be careful, Atsuki," she squeaks, closing her eyes at her news. "I caught an evil Shinen. I think it's in Area Three, but the Shinen disappeared. I don't know where he is. I'm sorry..." Her lip slightly quivers. He nods, closing his phone up.

_'Time to head out.' _But before leaving, he notices a Shinen just outside of the cake shop. He stalks outside, suddenly all too aware of his surroundings. Looking around for others, he turns towards the distorted Shinen-the Shinen of a killer looking for a new sacrifice, and reaches out to it...

_'__**Blood blood blood blood blood blood blood'**_

_'__Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill'_

_'Kojima is here' _

_'Knows __**nothing**__ now'_

_'Your scream'_

_'__I wanna hear it'_

_'__**Enjoy yourself...'**_

He snaps back into his own concious, the Shinen scraped up. _'Destructive impulses, deviant desire. This is a new Shinen,' _he frowns. His eyes turn even darker, wandering deep into his thoughts. _'Its owner was here sometime in the last few minutes... The Shinen from the game center two days ago,' _he concludes. He scowls to himself, his irritation just slightly noticeable.

_'Urgh, how did I not notice a man with such thoughts within the same area?' _His thoughts drifted to the strawberry slap-fight he had with Mika.

...

_'... Yes. Ahem. Anyway... That means the stabber is out again looking for a victim.' _His thoughts are interrupted by another ring, a call from FORT. Nola appears on the screen this time, and he tells her about the Shinen.

"We're confirming the data of the Residual Shinen now," she says while folding her arms. "It's the same Shinen we got before, the one from the stabber." Atsuki nods, already having confirmed this. "We're going to monitor the Shinen in the area." With that he snaps his phone shut and walks along.

He makes his way to the Post Office building, and stops walking. He finds another Shinen, behind the tree and in front of the doors, and scrapes it out. Surprisingly, it's filled with love and dependance... For Enokida's doll charm. Shrugging, his eye glows once again...

As he thought, it is of Kee-chan's 'golden power', how he won't betray the man, et cetera.

_'I'm trying to deal with a potential serial killer and this is what I stumble upon. The delighted thoughts of a man who is possibly schizophrenic,' _he sweatdrops. Sighing in exasperation, he goes on, thinking, _'typical.'_

Said man and possessed doll walk out of the office, and the man looks... lonely? Yes, a deep frown is marring his face, his hand petting the disturbing _thing _resting in his breast pocket for comfort. Just after he was thinking thoughts that were happier than Nami at Triple Step when giving away its 'Three Story Triple Step Burger's and 'Triple King Ice's. And fries. Lots of fries.

_'Add bipolar onto the growing list of possible disorders this man contains...'_

"Ha... I hate Autumn. Wind blows into my heart..." Atsuki sweatdrops again, the man still petting his clay doll. He catches Atsuki looking towards his direction, and before he can turn on his heel and leave like he oh-so desperately wishes to, he calls out to the telepath.

"What are you looking at," he questions. "Just maybe... You wanna' know about my Kee-chan? Kee-chan is amazing! His golden power helps me..." Atsuki sighs, hating how he just wasted valuable time on something so pointless and unnecessary...

With the useless information of how Kee-chan eases the guy's loneliness in his pocket, he says goodbye, and they part ways.

_'Now I know how Shinji feels.' _He softly whimpers, a whole hour wasted on that damn doll. _'I'm going to develop a fear of post offices at this rate...'_

Meanwhile, behind said post office, a certain sweeper is trying his best not to laugh his ass off at the sorry sight of the apathetic young man pouting as he searches for the lingering thoughts of a serial killer... and finds even more useless Shinen. A situation familiar to another...

0Another Time0

Atsuki, a young, stoic man, is officially on panic mode. His usually placid features are filled with signs of worry. His eyes wide and darting around just as much as he was throughout Kisaragi, he searched onwards for the newest infectee. The kind girl in his class, Yayoi Kamishiro, has a potentially deadly Silent, and if she isn't found then the infection will spread as badly as the one in the Shanghai incident. Atsuki can't allow Liu Yee to get to her, either... Otherwise, she'll be killed.

Nami has already called him the second time. He has already checked the Shinen near the tower. He needs to find her... She seems to be hiding in one of her most frequented places, but there are so many...

He has got to find her. He must...

Panting, he darts around the city. Everything is just a colored blur as he moves faster than Liu's shadows can take him. He winds through people, not even apologizing if he bumps into someone as there simply wasn't enough time...

He remembers Arthur and Rainbow Hill.

_'A beautiful place to commit suicide, as a lonely artist would want, I can imagine...' _He stops on his right foot, skidding a little as he jumps into a sharp turn. He comes across a view of the ocean...

He sees a Shinen, and in his adrenaline filled state, he doesn't bother to see what emotion may be behind it before he scrapes it.

That might not have been the most intelligent decision...

_'Great measurements..'_

**'How is it?'**

**'Not good?'**

_'The machine looks__ fine.'_

**'How is it?'**

_'Bad measurements...'_

_**'Dissapointing...'**_

... Dissapointing didn't even describe it...

_'Reiji Takano..!' _Atsuki fumed. _'I hope you die in a river! No, better yet, a pond! The waterfowl will be happy to devour your remains, you'll last forever!' _He turns around and speeds off, leaving a very loud stream of curses behind for Liu Yee to witness.

Liu Yee was following him, but after that, he could barely even move he was laughing so hard.

0Later in Story0

At Chitose Pond... A body has been recovered. A very familiar one...

_'... Fuck me...'_

**00**

***Yes, they each have a name. If you go into the menu by pressing L, click on FORT, click on data, and click on Silent, up at the top by a person's face it'll say 'carrier' and the name of the silent you eradicated.**

***It says shocked in the game, and I thought it just wasn't the right word. He wasn't sleeping well, not to mention the obvious depression. I thought that exhausted was a better word.**

**I wasn't able to copy everything each Shinen said because it went by too fast. Me and my slow typing! *tonk***

**I wrote this on a day off(I really should be getting to 'To Collect Butterflies') and decided to post it here. Didn't really edit it much, so sorry for any errors or if you didn't enjoy it. But I just thought that Atsuki would've been miffed if he came across that last Shinen at Rainbow Hill when you're trying to stop a girl from comitting suicide.**


End file.
